Liver fibrosis in chronic liver disease refers to the body’s repair response to sustained repeated necrosis or inflammation of liver cells, which results in fibrosis accompanied by relative or absolute lack of fiber degradation and deposition of extracellular matrix in the liver. Early and timely diagnosis and treatment of hepatic fibrosis are of great importance to patients with liver disease. A rational and complete diagnostic model of liver fibrosis should involve clinical pathology and histology, imaging, and serum biochemical markers. Liver biopsy has been regarded as the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of liver fibrosis and as a reference standard for other non-invasive diagnostic tests of liver fibrosis. Since it is invasive, liver biopsy is difficult to implement in clinical practice and a second liver biopsy is even more difficult. As for the non-invasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis, clinical symptoms and signs are not specific. The sensitivity and specificity of individual serum biochemical markers are still very weak, and imaging studies also lack specificity. The mathematical model “FibroTest” of serum biochemical markers has better diagnostic accuracy, but the calculation is complicated, making it difficult to achieve widespread use. There is insufficient evidence to suggest that the "gold standard" of liver biopsy can be replaced. Therefore, further research is needed to investigate how best to balance the benefits and harms of different tests, to identify the best combination, to simplify any calculation steps, to reduce costs, to avoid liver biopsy, and to find new, more specific and sensitive markers.

Citation： ZHANG Ya,LIU Guanjian. Diagnosis of Hepatic Fibrosis in Chronic Liver Disease. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2007, 07(4): 316-320. doi: Copy